Where Butterflies Never Die
by Alexandria Kennedy
Summary: Just a short little fic on Clove and Cato. Clove/Cato romance.  Clato? Cove?  Anyway...this is actually kind of sad in my opinion, but I guess it's sweet as well. The two reflect on their love for each other and...stuff.
1. Clove

I always had to avoid his eyes, as I found myself getting lost in them too easily. He meant everything to me, that boy. It was not hard to understand that I would have given up everything for him, and so I did give up everything for him. I would have done anything for him.

Perhaps that is why I turned myself into a monster.

People believed that the Capitol turned me into a killer, but that was not true.

It was him.

It was me.

His hair was always so fine; his smile always gave me butterflies. Whenever he picked up a weapon, he was able to use it so well. He was perfect in my eyes.

He never asked me to give up everything I had for him.

He never asked me to give up my life to make sure he lived.

Isn't it funny?

I died for him to win, but he died as well.

He had come a minute too late, the day I died. I thought he hadn't heard me calling out his name. It ended with me telling myself he did not love me back, and that was why he hadn't come.

I wished I could have had a few more minutes, to tell him that I truly did love him. That there was a side to me that was not just another killer, and that that side had so many feelings for him.

But I could not.

But I would not.

I was never one to admit my feelings for someone, mostly because I hardly ever had feelings for anyone.

I should have told him I loved him when I still had the chance.

"_Cato?" I whispered into the darkness. It was the night before my death. I was on watch, sitting right next to Cato's sleeping form._

"_Yeah?" he answered._

"_Where do you think we go when we die? Do we just…float around?" I knew he was going to make fun of me for my question. I probably sounded like a small child to him._

"_My sister once told me…that we go to a better place. She described it as a place where butterflies never die. We can all live there in peace. We wouldn't even have to worry about the Games," he replied. His reply surprised me, and his voice was so soft. For once, he was not the tribute from District Two who was perfect. He was not another killer Career. _

_He was Cato._

"_I'd like to go there," I told him._

"_After you win the Games," he said quietly._

"_What about you?" I wondered._

"_I'll be meeting you…in the place where butterflies never die."_

I was not able to do what he had in mind; I didn't win the Games.

But, maybe…

Just maybe…

The two of us would be able to meet in that place he was talking about that night.

Where butterflies never die.


	2. Cato

Whenever I was in the training center, I pretended to be that boy who was better than everyone else. I pretended to be strong and perfect, just so that _she _would not look at me as weak. For some reason, I fell in love with the girl with the knives. She seemed so _real_ compared to other people. I knew that she was not just another airhead with good looks. She meant something to world, whether she believed it or not.

I was too lost in oblivion to ever realize that she loved me back, though.

Not until it was too late.

I regretted everything that I did; all of the lies I told, the lives I took.

Because of her.

Not in a bad way, of course. She taught me how to care about people.

I just wished I could have told her how much I loved her…

I should have been there to help her, the day that Thresh killed her. Just avenging her death by killing him was not enough, though. That District Eleven boy had killed my first—and last—love. He deserved much more than a painful death.

Maybe if I had been watching over her, I could have saved her. Perhaps then we would have gotten out of the arena together.

But, not.

I had to have screwed up. I had to let her die.

Because I'm just a failure.

Maybe that's what I always pretended to be someone I wasn't—to make it so that no one thought I was a screw up, that I was worthless.

That night, when she had asked me where we went when we die, I so desperately wanted to promise her that she was getting out alive. Instead, I just told her that she would be. If I had made that promise, I would not have let her down. I would have made sure she lived.

Right?

Either way, I was determined to keep her alive.

Since the second they called out her name, when I saw her walk onto the stage with a fake smile, I had vowed to get her out alive. Her mother and brother had been so devastated, though they were even more heartbroken that she appeared to be happy about it.

Why didn't any of the female Careers volunteer for her?

She probably threatened them. That year was her year; she bragged about it often enough to keep others away from participating in the Games. Now, though, she was gone.

It was my fault, really.

I shouldn't have let her go.

It is going to be okay, though.

Because together we will be…

In the place…

Where butterflies never die.


End file.
